the Python Natalensis. 243 



and I am inclined to think that he received no injury what- 

 ever. The snake did not let go his hold until he had received 

 a fatal blow from a bill-hook. The dog then leaped up sud- 

 denly, several times, as if he were not sure of having been 

 extricated, ran around and entered the back yard, but, for 

 some time appeared afraid of every thing and every body. 

 His back only was slimed, and this could not be washed off, 

 but gradually wore away in the course of a week or ten days." 



The next individual of which I have heard, was attracted 

 into the house of a colonist, an old woman, by a hen and her 

 chickens. An unusual noise was heard under the bed, in the 

 night, which awakened the woman. By a light she discov- 

 ered the serpent in the act of seizing its prey ; affrighted, she 

 fled to the house of a neighbor, who came and captured him 

 with his gun. 



The third individual appeared upon my own premises early 

 in 1837. An antelope was discovered by some workmen a 

 short distance from my house. Upon the first sight the na- 

 tives, as usual, raised a cry, when he suddenly disappeared 

 among the bushes. They started in pursuit. But a few mo- 

 ments elapsed before they heard a cry from the antelope, 

 which directed them to the spot, where they beheld the animal 

 struggling in the folds of a large Python. They all fired 

 simultaneously, and shot at the same instant both the serpent 

 and his victim. The former I measured, and found it over 

 fourteen feet. The antelope was a large one, and it was dif- 

 ficult to believe that it could have been received throuah the 

 throat of the serpent comparatively so small. The head had 

 been cut off, and the body greatly mutilated before I saw it, 

 but taking a section of the skin where the abdomen begins to 

 expand, above the vent, and not including the greatest volume, 

 I stretched it moderately. It was very easily distended; and 

 I soon satisfied myself that without going beyond the natural 

 power of expansion, it would have taken in the body of the 

 antelope. 



It was skinned by the natives, and the flesh, when denu- 

 ded, was of the most delicate white. It was divided among 

 them, and not a particle, whether of skin or any other 



